The present disclosure relates generally to systems for melting and dispensing hot melt adhesive. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to an adhesive melter pellet feed assembly.
Hot melt dispensing systems are typically used in manufacturing assembly lines to automatically disperse an adhesive used in the construction of packaging materials such as boxes, cartons and the like. Hot melt dispensing systems conventionally include a material tank, heating elements, a pump and a dispenser. Solid polymer pellets are melted in the tank using a heating element before being supplied to the dispenser by the pump. Because the melted pellets will re-solidify into solid form if permitted to cool, the melted pellets must be maintained at a temperature at or above their melting temperature from the tank to the dispenser. This typically requires placement of heating elements in the tank, the pump and the dispenser, as well as heating any tubing or hoses that connect those components. Furthermore, conventional hot melt dispensing systems typically utilize tanks having large volumes so that extended periods of dispensing can occur after the pellets contained therein are melted. However, the large volume of pellets within the tank requires a lengthy period of time to completely melt, which increases start-up times for the system. For example, a typical tank includes a plurality of heating elements lining the walls of a rectangular, gravity-fed tank such that melted pellets along the walls prevents the heating elements from efficiently melting pellets in the center of the container. Melter systems commonly receive solid adhesive pellets in an air-pressurized stream from a reservoir or source. Some melter systems receive pellets on demand in response to a drop in adhesive level in a melting melter.